1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to the field of pseudorandom number generation, and more particularly to a method of populating a data set with unique pseudorandom numbers.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is necessary in many applications to populate data sets with unique pseudorandom numbers. For example, in testing applications, one may populate a data set with unique pseudorandom numbers, such as 9-digit Social Numbers, in order to give the application numbers to work on. In another example, one may wish to assign identification numbers to identify individuals. Since, the same number cannot be used to identify more than one individual, the numbers must be unique. Also, the numbers should be pseudorandom and relatively sparse, so that a hacker will be unlikely to guess valid identification numbers.
Currently, unique pseudorandom numbers are generated by first generating a pseudorandom number and then determining if the generated number is unique. The determination of uniqueness is done by storing each number that is used and comparing a generated number to the stored used numbers. If the number has already been used, the generated number is discarded and a new number is generated. When large numbers of numbers are generated, the storage and comparison tasks become cumbersome.